World News Quick Take

AGENCIES

■ Japan

Clothing fetish man indicted

Police found more than 8,000 pieces of women's clothing and lingerie in the home of a Japanese man who stole the items so he could sleep buried in them. Maeyasu Kawamura, 60, was indicted for theft on Friday, police in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, said. Police found 2,400 pieces of lingerie, 600 kimonos and 5,200 items of other clothing all piled up high in his small apartment room. Kawamura has confessed to stealing the items, which included a wedding dress. "He seemed to get a thrill out of sleeping covered in women's clothes," a police spokesman said. "He seemed to like the smell."

■ Nepal

Diplomats want protection

The government must ensure security for foreign diplomats, and political activists should not obstruct their work, Kathmandu-based diplomats said, after an attack on a car carrying the US envoy. Ambassador James Moriarty was unhurt in the incident in southeast Nepal last week when members of a Maoist young wing threw stones at his car. The US has been critical of the Maoists, who signed a peace deal with the government in November and joined an interim administration last month. The former rebels, who have also taken seats in an interim parliament, still figure on a US list of terrorist organizations.

■ China

Realistic toy guns seized

Quality watchdogs have seized 46 toy guns from a Wal-Mart store in Shanghai because they looked "too realistic," state media reported on Thursday. Five types of toy guns, including pistols and a machine gun, seized from the US retailing giant's outlet in Pudong, violated color standards, the Shanghai Daily said, citing the local bureau of quality and technical supervision. "All of the guns are black or metallic, which is against a law that states at least half of toy guns should be bright colors such as red or green to differentiate them from real weapons," the paper quoted an unnamed quality official as saying.

■ Philippines

Drunken man kills 10

A man armed with a long knife killed 10 people, including five children, and wounded 14 more, on a drunken rampage early yesterday in a central province, police said. The man first attacked and wounded six members of his own family in the remote village outside Calbayog City in central Samar Province around 2am, police desk officer Jessie Gianan said by telephone. The man then barged into two neighboring homes where he stabbed and hacked at the sleeping occupants, Gianan said. Eight victims died on the spot and two died later at a hospital, Gianan said. Another 14 were wounded. The man then surrendered to another villager who turned him over to the authorities.

■ India

Boy, 8, arrested over deaths

Police have arrested an eight-year-old boy for allegedly killing three infants, two of them his own cousins, a police officer said on Friday. The killings in Mushari village in Begusarai district shocked and angered its residents and forced the parents of the boy to flee the village. The boy allegedly committed his first murder a year ago, strangling his six-month-old cousin, said Amit Lodha, the police chief of Begusarai, 50km northeast of Patna, capital of Bihar state. The second killing came months later, when he smashed the head of another cousin. Those incidents came to light after police probed a complaint from the boy's neighbors that he had killed their infant daughter on Tuesday, Lodha said.